UScellular is majority-owned by Telephone and Data Systems Inc. (TDS), which historically has held about 83% of the company’s economic interest and roughly 96% of its voting power. In mid‑2025, T‑Mobile completed a deal to acquire most of UScellular’s wireless operations (customers, stores, and part of its spectrum), but UScellular—still controlled by TDS—continues to own the majority of its spectrum and tower assets as an infrastructure-focused business.

Current ownership snapshot

  • The controlling owner of UScellular (United States Cellular Corporation) is Telephone and Data Systems Inc. (TDS), a U.S. telecommunications holding company.
  • TDS’s stake gives it dominant voting control , even though UScellular shares are publicly traded on the NYSE under the ticker “USM.”

What T‑Mobile owns now

  • In a transaction valued at about 4.4 billion dollars , T‑Mobile agreed to buy substantially all of UScellular’s wireless operations, including its customers, retail stores, and around 30% of its spectrum.
  • T‑Mobile also entered long‑term agreements to lease thousands of UScellular towers, effectively turning UScellular into more of a network‑infrastructure landlord while T‑Mobile runs the day‑to‑day wireless service for most former UScellular subscribers.

Who “owns UScellular” in practice

  • Legally and corporately, Telephone and Data Systems still owns and controls UScellular as a company.
  • From a consumer point of view, however, T‑Mobile now controls most of the wireless business that people used to experience as “US Cellular,” including billing, plans, and network operations for the majority of former UScellular customers.

In simple terms: TDS owns UScellular the company, while T‑Mobile owns most of the wireless operations that UScellular used to run.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.